The invention relates generally to marine propulsion devices such as outboard motors and stern drive units, including two-part drive shaft assemblies.
The invention also relates to arrangements releasably for coupling or connecting two shafts to form a shaft assembly.
In the past, two-piece drive shaft assemblies, i.e., drive shaft assemblies including upper and lower shafts, have been employed in outboard motors, which drive shaft assemblies were connected by pinning together the upper and lower shafts, thereby insuring positive retention of the shafts in assembled relation. However, this arrangement required assembly of the upper and lower shafts prior to insertion thereof into the lower unit. It also required disassembly of the lower unit to enable removal of the drive shaft assembly from the lower unit so as thereafter to enable disassembly of the drive shaft assembly for the purpose of replacing one of the upper and lower shafts.
Another arrangement used in the past employs a spring clip as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,259. This arrangement permits assembly of the upper shaft and the lower shaft after previous positioning of the lower shaft in the lower unit. However, disassembly of the upper and lower shafts still required prior disassembly of the lower unit so as to permit disassembly of the drive shaft assembly.
Attention is directed to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ 4,493,662 Taguchi January 15, 1985 4,832,637 Goluba May 23, 1989 4,869,121 Meisenburg September 26, 1989 5,112,259 McElroy, Jr. et al. May 12, 1992 ______________________________________